Ever since the 1970s, the problem of unemployment has defined politics in Western Europe, but governments have responded in different ways. In the 1970s and 1980s, some governments used macroeconomic ...
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Ever since the 1970s, the problem of unemployment has defined politics in Western Europe, but governments have responded in different ways. In the 1970s and 1980s, some governments used macroeconomic policy to support domestic economic activity and maintain full employment. In the 1990s and 2000s, on the other hand, some governments made large labor market policy changes to ensure that the unemployed were looking for jobs, well-trained, and matched with employers willing to hire them. Comparing Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, this book shows that governments made different choices because of underlying political differences: the development of party systems, corporatism, and norms regarding the purpose of political authority. Low unemployment was the linchpin of political arrangements in Western Europe after the Second World War. When mass unemployment became a threat again in the 1970s, Austria and Sweden – where the post-war political order remained intact – used economic policies to preserve full employment. In the 1990s and 2000s, governments in Denmark and the Netherlands – who had lived with high unemployment for a long period of time and reformed their political models in the course of the 1980s – undertook far-reaching labor market policy changes.Less

Mass Unemployment and the State

Johannes Lindvall

Published in print: 2010-12-01

Ever since the 1970s, the problem of unemployment has defined politics in Western Europe, but governments have responded in different ways. In the 1970s and 1980s, some governments used macroeconomic policy to support domestic economic activity and maintain full employment. In the 1990s and 2000s, on the other hand, some governments made large labor market policy changes to ensure that the unemployed were looking for jobs, well-trained, and matched with employers willing to hire them. Comparing Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, this book shows that governments made different choices because of underlying political differences: the development of party systems, corporatism, and norms regarding the purpose of political authority. Low unemployment was the linchpin of political arrangements in Western Europe after the Second World War. When mass unemployment became a threat again in the 1970s, Austria and Sweden – where the post-war political order remained intact – used economic policies to preserve full employment. In the 1990s and 2000s, governments in Denmark and the Netherlands – who had lived with high unemployment for a long period of time and reformed their political models in the course of the 1980s – undertook far-reaching labor market policy changes.

This book on Flexicurity Capitalism provides four rigorously formulated approaches to an analysis of the current and future evolution of capitalism from a Marx-Keynes and Kalecki- Schumpeter (MKS) ...
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This book on Flexicurity Capitalism provides four rigorously formulated approaches to an analysis of the current and future evolution of capitalism from a Marx-Keynes and Kalecki- Schumpeter (MKS) perspective. It does so in self-contained ways, focusing on macrodynamical models of the working of modern capitalist societies in the tradition of Classical and Keynesian authors, augmented by a modern reformulation of Schumpeterian ’Competitive Socialism’, the flexi(bility-se)curity approach currently intensively debated in the EU area. On this basis the book provides a novel approach to the study of the future of capitalism, a topic that has never been more important than now -- since the prosperity phase after World War II. It supplies an alternative to those discussions of current forms of capitalism which focus on the status quo of such economies, instead of providing an ideal scenario first, on the basis of which compromises between the status quo and the 'ideal' can be discussed. The employed modelling approaches, of an advanced type, are aimed at the post-graduate level of economic teaching. The chapters of the book can be utilised independently of each other but, nevertheless, provide a unique approach to macrodynamic theorizing that is firmly rooted in the MKS tradition of the understanding of the growth dynamics of capitalist economies.Less

Flexicurity Capitalism : Foundations, Problems, and Perspectives

Peter FlaschelAlfred Greiner

Published in print: 2012-04-11

This book on Flexicurity Capitalism provides four rigorously formulated approaches to an analysis of the current and future evolution of capitalism from a Marx-Keynes and Kalecki- Schumpeter (MKS) perspective. It does so in self-contained ways, focusing on macrodynamical models of the working of modern capitalist societies in the tradition of Classical and Keynesian authors, augmented by a modern reformulation of Schumpeterian ’Competitive Socialism’, the flexi(bility-se)curity approach currently intensively debated in the EU area. On this basis the book provides a novel approach to the study of the future of capitalism, a topic that has never been more important than now -- since the prosperity phase after World War II. It supplies an alternative to those discussions of current forms of capitalism which focus on the status quo of such economies, instead of providing an ideal scenario first, on the basis of which compromises between the status quo and the 'ideal' can be discussed. The employed modelling approaches, of an advanced type, are aimed at the post-graduate level of economic teaching. The chapters of the book can be utilised independently of each other but, nevertheless, provide a unique approach to macrodynamic theorizing that is firmly rooted in the MKS tradition of the understanding of the growth dynamics of capitalist economies.

Most economists think that unemployment is high in Europe because of rigid labour market institutions such as minimum wages, unemployment benefits, and employment protection. The book develops a ...
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Most economists think that unemployment is high in Europe because of rigid labour market institutions such as minimum wages, unemployment benefits, and employment protection. The book develops a theory of labour market institutions as the outcome of the political process. A central hypothesis is that they will be chiefly determined by the interests of employed workers with intermediate skill levels. We show that redistributive conflict between these workers and more skilled workers may lead to an outcome where a set of rigid institutions arise. We analyse why reform may be difficult because of status‐quo bias, and discuss how it may nevertheless be implemented by choosing an appropriate design or timing for the reform.Less

The Political Economy of Labour Market Institutions

Gilles Saint-Paul

Published in print: 2000-09-28

Most economists think that unemployment is high in Europe because of rigid labour market institutions such as minimum wages, unemployment benefits, and employment protection. The book develops a theory of labour market institutions as the outcome of the political process. A central hypothesis is that they will be chiefly determined by the interests of employed workers with intermediate skill levels. We show that redistributive conflict between these workers and more skilled workers may lead to an outcome where a set of rigid institutions arise. We analyse why reform may be difficult because of status‐quo bias, and discuss how it may nevertheless be implemented by choosing an appropriate design or timing for the reform.

In recent decades, the share of service employment has increased greatly across Europe, fundamentally changing the structure of European labour markets and the nature of the economic risks that ...
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In recent decades, the share of service employment has increased greatly across Europe, fundamentally changing the structure of European labour markets and the nature of the economic risks that individual workers face. This book explores how far reforms to unemployment protection systems, which were introduced and consolidated in a very different labour market context, are responding to the particular challenges of post-industrial labour markets. It argues that adapting traditional systems of unemployment protection to the risk profiles of service-based economies requires a profound policy realignment, which can be summarized with reference to three overlapping processes of institutional change; the homogenization of unemployment benefit rights for different categories of the unemployed; the erosion of the institutional boundaries between benefit provisions for the unemployed and for other groups of working-age people reliant on state support; and the ever-closer operational integration of income maintenance policies and other forms of labour market support. Systematically comparing across twelve European welfare states over a period of twenty years, the book traces how these reform dynamics have played out in the context of political conflicts, institutional constraints, and changing macroeconomic conditions. While the book highlights that many differences continue to set the unemployment protection arrangements of different European countries apart, it also points to an emergent process of contingent convergence in conceptions of the risk of unemployment and of appropriate ways of regulating it.Less

Regulating the Risk of Unemployment : National Adaptations to Post-Industrial Labour Markets in Europe

Published in print: 2011-10-01

In recent decades, the share of service employment has increased greatly across Europe, fundamentally changing the structure of European labour markets and the nature of the economic risks that individual workers face. This book explores how far reforms to unemployment protection systems, which were introduced and consolidated in a very different labour market context, are responding to the particular challenges of post-industrial labour markets. It argues that adapting traditional systems of unemployment protection to the risk profiles of service-based economies requires a profound policy realignment, which can be summarized with reference to three overlapping processes of institutional change; the homogenization of unemployment benefit rights for different categories of the unemployed; the erosion of the institutional boundaries between benefit provisions for the unemployed and for other groups of working-age people reliant on state support; and the ever-closer operational integration of income maintenance policies and other forms of labour market support. Systematically comparing across twelve European welfare states over a period of twenty years, the book traces how these reform dynamics have played out in the context of political conflicts, institutional constraints, and changing macroeconomic conditions. While the book highlights that many differences continue to set the unemployment protection arrangements of different European countries apart, it also points to an emergent process of contingent convergence in conceptions of the risk of unemployment and of appropriate ways of regulating it.

This book surveys the main events in the international economy from the outbreak of the First World War to the end of the Second World War: a period of time variously defined as the “globalization ...
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This book surveys the main events in the international economy from the outbreak of the First World War to the end of the Second World War: a period of time variously defined as the “globalization backlash”, the “Second Thirty Years War”, or simply “the World in Depression”. The book starts with the unfortunate peace settlement after the First World War and progresses to the ensuing hyperinflations and financial crises; from the attempts at rebuilding an international economic and monetary order in the face of rapid technical progress and productivity growth to the policy mistakes that brought about the Great Depression — the most devastating economic depression in human history; from wide-spread long-term unemployment to overall autarky and a second global conflagration. The opening chapter puts the interwar years in the long-term quantitative perspective of economic development over the whole of the 20th century while the final chapter highlights the long-run impact of the interwar years on the growth and policy features of the prosperous decades that followed the end of the Second World War.Less

The World Economy between the World Wars

Charles H. FeinsteinPeter TeminGianni Toniolo

Published in print: 2008-03-13

This book surveys the main events in the international economy from the outbreak of the First World War to the end of the Second World War: a period of time variously defined as the “globalization backlash”, the “Second Thirty Years War”, or simply “the World in Depression”. The book starts with the unfortunate peace settlement after the First World War and progresses to the ensuing hyperinflations and financial crises; from the attempts at rebuilding an international economic and monetary order in the face of rapid technical progress and productivity growth to the policy mistakes that brought about the Great Depression — the most devastating economic depression in human history; from wide-spread long-term unemployment to overall autarky and a second global conflagration. The opening chapter puts the interwar years in the long-term quantitative perspective of economic development over the whole of the 20th century while the final chapter highlights the long-run impact of the interwar years on the growth and policy features of the prosperous decades that followed the end of the Second World War.

The chapter discusses three periods of policy change in the field of social protection for unemployed people. It explains basic parameters of unemployment protection systems, contrasting contemporary ...
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The chapter discusses three periods of policy change in the field of social protection for unemployed people. It explains basic parameters of unemployment protection systems, contrasting contemporary systems with those which existed in the late 1970s. Making use of several indicators, it assess the scale and profile of change in each country. The different reform profiles are identified and their genesis discussed in the context of major legislative changes. It argues that the specific links between unemployment protection systems and respective national political economy structures have impacted strongly on the emerging reform profiles. Dynamic power relations within and across government parties, as well as contextual changes impeded or facilitated policies, thus explaining cross-national variations in the pace and profile of reform.Less

Supporting unemployed people: income protection and activation

Jochen Clasen

Published in print: 2005-08-25

The chapter discusses three periods of policy change in the field of social protection for unemployed people. It explains basic parameters of unemployment protection systems, contrasting contemporary systems with those which existed in the late 1970s. Making use of several indicators, it assess the scale and profile of change in each country. The different reform profiles are identified and their genesis discussed in the context of major legislative changes. It argues that the specific links between unemployment protection systems and respective national political economy structures have impacted strongly on the emerging reform profiles. Dynamic power relations within and across government parties, as well as contextual changes impeded or facilitated policies, thus explaining cross-national variations in the pace and profile of reform.

This book explores the impact of trade with less developed countries (LDCs) on employment in Europe. It supports the view that trade with LDCs has had limited impact on the labour market. Among its ...
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This book explores the impact of trade with less developed countries (LDCs) on employment in Europe. It supports the view that trade with LDCs has had limited impact on the labour market. Among its main findings are that trade with LDCs would be less harmful for Europe than for the USA, that the inequality problem in Europe is not wage inequality but the widespread unemployment of unskilled workers, and that technology has contributed to unemployment. The book has nine chapters. The first seven examine the impact of LDC trade on the European labour market; the final two address the social clause problem.Less

Trade and Jobs in Europe : Much Ado About Nothing?

Published in print: 1999-08-05

This book explores the impact of trade with less developed countries (LDCs) on employment in Europe. It supports the view that trade with LDCs has had limited impact on the labour market. Among its main findings are that trade with LDCs would be less harmful for Europe than for the USA, that the inequality problem in Europe is not wage inequality but the widespread unemployment of unskilled workers, and that technology has contributed to unemployment. The book has nine chapters. The first seven examine the impact of LDC trade on the European labour market; the final two address the social clause problem.

This volume represents the publication of seven lectures––the first annual Arne Ryde Memorial lectures administered by the University of Lund––on what the author deems to be the seven leading schools ...
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This volume represents the publication of seven lectures––the first annual Arne Ryde Memorial lectures administered by the University of Lund––on what the author deems to be the seven leading schools of thought in contemporary macroeconomics. The result is a wide‐ranging appreciation of the richness of macro theory and a commentary on some of its more doubtful tenets by a scholar who has himself made contributions to all seven schools. The recurring motif is that actual economies are complicated and each school has its own important insights into them. The first four schools have in common that they regard monetary mechanisms as a key part of the engine determining the level of economic activity while the last three schools all adopt essentially non‐monetary perspectives. The first chapter considers at length the basis for Keynes's break from classical economics. The next chapter addresses the sister school called ‘monetarism’. Chapters on the New Classical school and the New Keynesian school follow. The supply side is the first stop in the non‐monetary realm and the related school, called ‘Real Business Cycle theory’, is the next. The last chapter looks at the early work of the structuralist school, which was at an early stage of development when these lectures were given.Less

Seven Schools of Macroeconomic Thought

Edmund S. Phelps

Published in print: 1990-05-17

This volume represents the publication of seven lectures––the first annual Arne Ryde Memorial lectures administered by the University of Lund––on what the author deems to be the seven leading schools of thought in contemporary macroeconomics. The result is a wide‐ranging appreciation of the richness of macro theory and a commentary on some of its more doubtful tenets by a scholar who has himself made contributions to all seven schools. The recurring motif is that actual economies are complicated and each school has its own important insights into them. The first four schools have in common that they regard monetary mechanisms as a key part of the engine determining the level of economic activity while the last three schools all adopt essentially non‐monetary perspectives. The first chapter considers at length the basis for Keynes's break from classical economics. The next chapter addresses the sister school called ‘monetarism’. Chapters on the New Classical school and the New Keynesian school follow. The supply side is the first stop in the non‐monetary realm and the related school, called ‘Real Business Cycle theory’, is the next. The last chapter looks at the early work of the structuralist school, which was at an early stage of development when these lectures were given.

The chapter analyzes the main trends and cross-national variations in early exit from work for eight European countries, Japan, and the USA. Participation levels and employment rates of older workers ...
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The chapter analyzes the main trends and cross-national variations in early exit from work for eight European countries, Japan, and the USA. Participation levels and employment rates of older workers between age 55 and 64 have declined. Cohort-adjusted early exit rates for both men and women show not only a rise in early retirement over the 1970s and early 1980s, but also substantial cross-national differences. Early exit from work is widespread in Continental Europe, less so in Scandinavia, Anglophone market economies, and in Japan.Less

Ever Earlier Retirement: Comparing Employment Trajectories

Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Published in print: 2006-07-20

The chapter analyzes the main trends and cross-national variations in early exit from work for eight European countries, Japan, and the USA. Participation levels and employment rates of older workers between age 55 and 64 have declined. Cohort-adjusted early exit rates for both men and women show not only a rise in early retirement over the 1970s and early 1980s, but also substantial cross-national differences. Early exit from work is widespread in Continental Europe, less so in Scandinavia, Anglophone market economies, and in Japan.

There are multiple pathways to early exit from work: early pensions (retirement age before 65), flexible and partial pensions, special preretirement schemes, long-term unemployment benefits, and ...
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There are multiple pathways to early exit from work: early pensions (retirement age before 65), flexible and partial pensions, special preretirement schemes, long-term unemployment benefits, and disability pensions. Early exit from work often emerged as an unintended consequence of progressive social policies. But once institutionalized, these exit pathways were difficult to reform, particularly in Continental European welfare states. In contrast, fewer and less generous pathways exist in Scandinavia, Anglophone economies, and Japan.Less

The Protection‐Pull Factors: Multiple Pathways to Early Exit

Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Published in print: 2006-07-20

There are multiple pathways to early exit from work: early pensions (retirement age before 65), flexible and partial pensions, special preretirement schemes, long-term unemployment benefits, and disability pensions. Early exit from work often emerged as an unintended consequence of progressive social policies. But once institutionalized, these exit pathways were difficult to reform, particularly in Continental European welfare states. In contrast, fewer and less generous pathways exist in Scandinavia, Anglophone economies, and Japan.